Professor Hill will give a keynote address titled, The End of Adolescence:  The Lost Art of Delaying Adulthood

Is Gen Z resistant to growing up? Are our images of youth as trapped in an extended adolescence—coddled, unaccountable, and more reluctant to take on adult responsibilities than previous generations—valid? Is coming of age so different today than it was 50 or 100 years ago? The keynote address takes on these questions based on new research on an abandoned archive of recordings of college students from half a century ago. These archival data provide a unique opportunity to understand the processes of coming of age across generations, as it happened in its historical context, and relate these experiences to the experiences of today’s youth. Based on their new book, Hill and her colleague debunk the stereotypes of today’s youth.  Hill argues that what experts and the general public perceive as stalled development is in fact typical across generations.  Like many of today’s young adults, those of two generations ago also felt isolated, anxious, and that the path to success is fearfully narrow. This earlier generation, too, worried about whether they could make it on their own. Yet, among today’s young adults, these developmentally appropriate struggles are seen as evidence of immaturity. By understanding similarities across generations in the processes of coming of age in real time, Hill offers an alternative view of delaying adulthood and identifies the benefits of taking additional time to construct a meaningful future.